Biographical information and photos of Almira Virginia Brown

Dear Congressional Cemetery,

 

Thought you might find these two photos (public domain) of Almira Virginia Brown and related biographical information with citations of service .

 

Regards John G. Sharp

 

PHOTOS

Almira Virginia Brown at the time of her retirement, image from The Recreator a publication of the Washington Navy Yard 1920.

 

Almira Virginia Brown and her son William Francis Brown standing together from Washington Times July 11, 1920 p.16 William F. Brown also worked for the

navy yard for 42 years!

 

BIOGRAPHY

 

Almira Virginia Brown (nee Rudd) was born 8 August 1839 in Washington

DC's 6th Ward. She was one of the the first woman to work at the Washington Navy

Yard and was employed at the yard for over fifty years. Her mother

Elizabeth Lewis Rudd was widowed early and left with three young daughters of

whom Almira (AKA Elmira) was the eldest. On 20 April 1858, at Christ Church

Washington DC, she married Francis C. Brown, age 22, a painter and

plasterer and a native of Pennsylvania. Francis and Almira continued to

live in the 6th Ward. Francis Brown went to work for the Washington Navy Yard on 15 March 1861 and was killed in a tragic explosion in the

Yard's Ordnance Laboratory on 27 July 1861. Francis had been assigned to work in one of the most dangerous assignments in the 19th century

Washington Navy Yard the "Rocket House." Here naval rockets and ordnance were armed. The arming process of placing gun powder and fuse together

was fraught with peril; an errant spark or light could ignite stockpiles of rockets and ordnance. On at least three separate occasions, namely, 7 September 1841, 27 July 1861, and 21 October 1881, there were premature explosions of gun shells and rockets which resulted in fatalities. In

each instance and investigation was conducted afterward.

 

Navy Yard Commandant John A. Dahlgren later described the 27 July 1861 explosion that killed Francis Brown and another workman as follows:

 

An accidental explosion in the Rocket House of the Laboratory on Saturday

last by which two of the workmen killed and the building much destroyed.

 

I

recommend that immediate provision be made to replace the building by

several others of smaller size, so that several operators shall be

separated as much as possible.

 

I also recommend that provision be made for the wives and children of those killed.

 

Respectfully

 

As

her husband Francis Brown was a civilian, no pension was available under the civil

service regulations of the 19th century for his widow. Despite a plea,

by then Commandant John Dahlgren that she be granted a pension, due the

tragic service related death of her husband, her claim for a pension was

denied as Francis Brown was "not in the (naval) service" and there were

no legal provision to pension a spouse of former civilian workers.

 

To

sustain herself and her two children, a daughter, Mary E. Brown born 21

October 1859 and son William H. Brown born 15 February 1862 she was

given employment as a seamstress the Yard in March 1864. According to

the early yard payroll records, she was the first woman to work at the

Washington Navy Yard. Mrs. Brown primary task was to sew powder bags for

naval ships and she also made flags and ship pendants. After the death

of her husband Francis, Almira Brown remained a widow and never

remarried. Working the Yard she was able to buy a small house and to

provide for her children.

 

In 1920, Almira Brown was 81 years of

age. She had worked continuously at the Navy Yard since 1864. For over

50 years of those years she had continually sewed heavy canvass material

using an industrial sewing machine where she had made thousands of

canvass powder bags, flags and awnings for surface ships. In 1907 in a

move to promote greater efficiency, the Navy Department, tried

unsuccessfully to release Brown and about fifty other women who worked

as seamstresses, by moving their work to another government arsenal. The

yard seamstresses directly petitioned then President Theodore Roosevelt

who reversed the decision and Brown managed to stay on (Washington

Post, 11 January 1907, 4).

 

By 1920 she had become a fixture of

the yard, she was one of the few employees on the yard payroll who had

worked there in the civil war, she loved her job and even in her eighth

decade and despite her poor health, she petitioned the Department of

Navy that she desired to stay on working at the Yard. Her request to

remain on the rolls however was denied due to the passage of the new

Civil Service System of 1920. This new law which went into effect that

year meant for the first time government employees were able to retire

but the law also had a mandatory retirement age (70yrs). In her

retirement she lived with her daughter and son in law and her seven

grandchildren. Brown died 26 February 1926 at age 86. She is buried at

Congressional Cemetery next to her husband Francis (Congressional

Cemetery Records R-86/184.

 

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Sources:

 

Official Personnel Folder ( OPF) , Brown, Almira V. National Archives and Records Service, St Louis Missouri

 

National Archives and Records Administration, Pension Application Brown , Almira V. # 2171

Done